1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyboard, preferably for cashier registers.
2. Description of the Background Art
Known keyboards have a plurality of keyboard housing parts so that, when they are serviced, exchanged or refurbished the keypad, and also often the associated keyboard electronic circuitry, must be taken out of the keyboard housing in order to replace defective, or to integrate additional, auxiliary components in the keyboard or the keyboard housing.
A keyboard for computers, for example for Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals, is disclosed in Canadian patent CA 2,051,503. Therein, a keyboard housing is of a plurality of parts.
A keyboard with a magnetic-card reader and a chip-card reader is disclosed in Japanese Abstract JP-Ab-05046649 A.  Various embodiments of a compact keyboard housing are described in Japanese Abstracts JP-Ab-11031275 A, JP-Ab-11031276 A as well as JP-Ab-11031277 A.
Further keyboards can be seen in European Patent EP 0 397 095 A2 as well as in German patent document DE 31 05 973 A1.
In German patent document DE 196 39 489 A1 the function of a POS terminal is described.
A keypad, preferably for cashier registers, is disclosed in German patent document DE 196 38 206 A1.
Each of the above-mentioned keyboards has multi-part housings and accordingly does not have a sufficiently flexible structure along with a high service friendliness as is currently required in the field of data input.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a keyboard that is structured so as to be fabrication and service-friendly.
According to principles of this invention, a keyboard housing is made of one piece of material, with the housing being formed of an upper housing shell and an S-shaped lower housing shell joined with the upper housing shell. In addition, the housing is preferably made of resinous plastic. A keypad and, for example, keyboard electronic circuitry are contained in the upper housing shell and additional components in the lower shell. The keypad is preferably supported at points. In this regard, the keypad lies on sleeves in the upper housing shell in which, preferably, two screws engage for positioning and attaching the keypad in the upper housing shell.
The keyboard electronic circuitry is, for example, below the keypad and is also supported at points, with plug couplings of the keyboard electronic circuitry extending into the lower housing shell.
The additional electrical components, such as, for example, an electronic circuit of a magnetic-card reader and/or a chip-card reader, a joystick, are coupled with the keyboard electronic circuitry.
The lower housing shell has a screw-on cover for covering it. On a backside of the lower housing shell, that is directed toward the top, a slot-shaped guide for the magnetic-card reader is integrated into the housing for having a magnetic card pulled therethrough.
Preferably, additionally or alternatively, a slot-like receiver opening for receiving a chip card can also be provided in this area.
An advantage of this solution is that additional components can be plugged, attached and/or exchanged without changing the keypad or the keyboard electronic circuitry. Also, a better renovation or retrofit with further modules or components is assured. Because of this design, the structure of the keyboard is extremely compact, modular and service-friendly.
A further advantage lies in the point-like, preferably slanted, supports of the keypad and the key electronic circuitry. Penetrating moisture is trapped in the upper housing shell and can flow out through slots in the upper housing shell without reaching the keypad or the keyboard electronics.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.